Where have you been? Create a color-coded map of the United States or Canada that highlights states that you have visited. Go through the list of states and choose a color for each state. There are four colors to choose from indicating your amount of time spent in that state. Just click on the state and then find your color. Or use the list of states found under the map. Choose an image width and pick the "Create" button to make your personalized image map. Save the map to your computer in png format. Please note: this is part of an individual's travel blog, and posts are not moderated for school use. Be sure to check out content links before sharing or student use. Or better yet, advise students NOT to click on any external links.

In the Classroom

Creating this would make an interesting map to create as a class project when learning about the 50 states. Go through the states list on your interactive whiteboard and create your class map to print or share as a digital image on your class website. Do a map as a class to see which states MOST students have visited. If you feel students may be embarrassed at their lack of travel, this may be better done on individual computers or on a personal response form given to you to input privately. For a whole class activity, divide your class into groups to create separate maps. Compare and contrast states visited. Send home a link to the website for students to create a map with their families. For older students, use the map for content and reassign colors as needed. For example, create a map showing the birthplace of U.S. Presidents: assign red to states without a president, yellow with one president, and green with two or more. This same format could be used in nearly any subject while studying differences in states (democrat or republican, most popular agriculture product, how many - if any - NFL teams, teen pregnancy rate, and much more).

Learn about the first 43 Presidents at this interactive site. Read a brief portrait of each with a short narrative about his Presidency and accomplishments. A picture is also included with each president. Unfortunately, it does not yet include President Obama and beyond.

In the Classroom

Use this site to introduce a specific president. Share this site on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Use this tool for research projects. There are several short paragraphs devoted to each President, and they would be perfect to teach how to take notes or summary writing. Have your class write a proposed piece about the current President and have the class vote on the best one.

Do your students remember 2000? How about 1950? This booklist explores the times of JFK and Reagan, the tumultuous 60s and Woodstock, Civil Rights, and so much more. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles''® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. For more on text complexity and Lexiles''®, see this information from the Lexile Framework. This list features books for all levels of readers. Let students choose a book in one area of interest during the 20th century and share with the class about times (probably) long before they were born. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly. If your library does not have the books, try interlibrary loan!

In the Classroom

Make the 1950s and beyond come alive during your unit on American History. Have students choose a book from this list and present their impressions from it in the form of a blog post from the times. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Pen.io, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration! Have students interview parents about different times that they learn about. Have students include the interview in the blogs. Collect the links to all the student posts on your class web page for students to browse and gather a "human" experience of history.

This amazing yet simple site devotes itself to the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. It encourages all Americans to video record themselves reading or reciting the speech. Scroll through to view the many videos already uploaded by presidents, journalists, actors, and everyday people. Share your recording using the simple steps provided on the site to become involved in this piece of history. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

View a different video daily as part of your class warm up activities. Start with the Old Sturbridge Village to convey the setting and set the tone. Record your class reciting the Gettysburg Address and upload to the site. Encourage others to share their video. Make this part of a class community service project, encourage students to find community members to record a video or go to nursing homes and hospitals to get recordings from patients. While learning the Gettysburg Address have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as Wordle, reviewed here, Tagxedo, reviewed here, or WordItOut, reviewed here.

Can't take a field trip to NYC? Visit the Statue of Liberty virtually! View the virtual tour, multimedia presentations, live web cam, and photo gallery for Lady Liberty. The history of the Statue of Liberty is accompanied by information on the Junior Ranger program for kids. There are also lesson plans and activity ideas for teachers. See the site for specific instructions on how to use this interactive.

In the Classroom

In the age of shrinking opportunities for field trips, jump right in! Find suggested lesson plans by going to the Teachers area and clicking on Celebrate a Symbol. Find out about the partnership between the United States and France and how they collaborated together. Explore partnerships between countries. Add this amazing piece of art into a unit about American Revolution and determine its significance.

What was life like in 20th century America? Explore the major events and watershed moments, as well as everyday life during the decades. Read both fiction and nonfiction books about times that brought the Model T, an influenza epidemic, and flappers. Dig deep into the Depression and life during wartimes. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles'''® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. For more on text complexity and Lexiles'''®, see this information from the Lexile Framework. This list features books for all levels of readers. Let students choose a book in one area of interest during the 20th century and share with the class about times long before they were born. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly. If your library does not have the books, try interlibrary loan!

In the Classroom

Make the first half of the 20th century come alive during your unit on American History. Have students choose a book from this list and present their impressions from it in the form of a blog post from the times. If you are beginning the process of integrating technology, have students create blogs sharing their learning and understanding using Pen.io, reviewed here. This blog creator requires no registration. Collect the links to all the student posts on your class web page for students to browse and gather a "human" experience of history.

Love Google Doodles, those fun and spontaneous changes to the Google logo? View the gallery of Google Doodles on this site. Click About on the top menu to learn the background of Google Doodle. View the Doodle Archive with the newest Doodle appearing first on the page. Click the information button (i) for each doodle to bring up an information box. Click on More Doodle Details to go to the Doodle page or click Search for to learn more about the topic or date. Move from one Doodle to the other by clicking the forward or back arrows on each Doodle page. Click Doodle4Google to view the Google contest. The competition typically takes place during the Fall. Click on Classroom Activities for typically takes place during the Fall. Click on Classroom Activities for ideas on sparking and nurturing creativity in kids of all ages. Check back to find the next Doodle4Google contest for students.

In the Classroom

This amazing collection of Doodles can be used to spark thinking in a variety of classes. Use the Doodles to teach a little history. View the resources about the event, person, or country that inspired the Doodle. Encourage thinking with your gifted kids by sharing the whole gallery for exploration or a specific Doodle. Use these Doodles to spark a new project idea or challenge kids to create a simple "doodle" as a new way to report on a historic figure or a content idea. Think your students will be intimidated making a computer Doodle? Consider creating a Doodle using any computer art software or simply creating one on paper. Use these ideas in Science to show the scientific inventions or concepts. In social studies, use Doodles to showcase specific events here and around the World. When looking at perspectives of people around the world, create doodles that can show more than one point of view. Write paragraphs or stories based on Google Doodles. Use Google Doodles in STEM initiatives at your school. Don't forget Art or Gifted programs! Get your students excited about the making of the Doodles and what code writing can do! Use tools such as Scratch, reviewed here, or Tynker, reviewed here, to practice coding.

Comments

Nice to have past "Google Doodles" in one website to go back and look at.David, AK, Grades: 9 - 12

Great ideas for short, informative paragraphs to practice this type of writing. Let kids find a google idea for a day, for their particular world/setting/priorities...FUN! Archives are instructive.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12

The Annenberg Learner Foundation's goal is to advance excellent teaching in American schools. Annenberg Learner's multimedia resources help teachers increase their expertise in their fields and improve teaching methods in all grade levels in all subjects. There are video resources for all subject areas. Find lesson plans for all subjects by grade level. A variety of interactives accompany lessons or can also stand alone. Follow the monthly updates and blogs for the latest information.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

In your classroom, explore the interactives available to enhance your lessons. Use the lesson plan library to add a new twist to your subject matter. Organize a professional study of your area of concentration for your department or grade level.

We all know about endangered plants and animals, but what about endangered sounds? The Museum of Endangered Sounds offers a collection of sounds unfamiliar to many young people. Click on any thumbnail to hear sounds such as the ka-ching of a cash register, dialing a rotary phone, the sound of dial-up Internet, or the click and winding of a film camera. Although the collection is quite small, it is worth a visit for a trip back to the past! Warning: the clip with TV Snow features a provocative photo. You may want to avoid that example with an immature audience.

In the Classroom

Share this site on your interactive whiteboard and speakers to launch your modern history or technology unit. Include it in a unit on inventions and inventors or even in "sounds of the decades." Challenge students to research and find other "endangered" sounds from the past. Have them interview parents and grandparents to discover long-missing sounds. Create a class wiki museum of more endangered sounds and images. Challenge students (and parents) to find these items (in real life) and bring them in to share. Have students include sounds from the museum as part of a multimedia project. Use this site to launch discussions about the impact of technology and its rapid changes on such things as home design, economics, and even clothing. Share this site as part of Grandparent's Day activities and have grandparents share memories of these and other obsolete objects.

Comments

Really neat site...Just be forewarned that there's a racy photo of a girl in a bikini on the old TV sound part. You don't see it until you click on the TV. Other than that, cute stuff.

Editorial Note: Yes, we saw that racy photo also. It is mentioned in our review already, towards the end of the description.Angie, GA, Grades: 4 - 6

Join the National Park Service and become a Web Ranger! Customize your ranger station, earn rewards, and play new activities. Find activities about people, history, nature, science, parks, or animals. Take a virtual hike of hand-picked trails from National Parks. Track daily progress for your real exercise on actual hiking trails if you live close to one of the parks. There is a Teacher's Resource Guide with 50 suggested activities. This resource is also available in Spanish.

In the Classroom

Check out the Teacher's Guide first for many curriculum connections and alignment to Common Core. Introduce one of the WebRangers' multimedia resources to your class on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Students sign up with a pseudonym; no email address is required. Use the Question of the Week during writing time, and have students share their response with a partner. Use the historic portions to accompany the study of US history or even in geography. Use this site as a precursor activity to an actual trip to one of the parks or as you study states and their major landmarks. Use this in science class as you study animals and habitats. Explore the landmarks in your own city or town and create multimedia presentations about them like the ones shown here. In the Teacher's Resource Guide, find the link to their Twitter account.

Imagine flying with the 1911 Model B Flyer. This "plain vanilla" site offers some GREAT sprinkles (video clips. photos of artifacts, and classroom activities). The historic videos demonstrate Liftoff, Pre-Flight Inspection, Meet the Pilot, Hollywood Ending, and several other topics. Historic Artifacts show the Wright 1911 Model B Flyer. Along with the documentation of the restoration, view the accompanying videos. An interactive diagram shows the parts of the Model B Flyer. Detailed images clearly document the assembly and take down process. Find directions for creating and launching a Magnus Flyer.

In the Classroom

Fly into the spirit of aviation and the Wright brothers while watching historical videos of the 1911 Model B Flyer. Watch the sequence of events and diagram them on a timeline. Examine the step by step instructions for assembly. Use these as an example for a "How to" tutorial or project. Study the steps of invention and creation. Your unit on Inventors has the wings for the Wright brothers.

Discover the basics of rivers and how they form with this kid-friendly adventure. Read and listen to facts about rivers. View and compare maps from previous centuries to today's maps and learn about changes to rivers through natural and unnatural changes. Explore several in-depth sections including River Basics, River Dollars & Sense, and Ooze, Good & Other Nasty Things.

In the Classroom

Have students try out this site on individual computers or as a learning center. Turn sound off or on according to your needs. Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. This is a great find for gifted students. Explore the logic or unusual topics (for example, a site where students can do more in-depth investigation related to a "standard" curriculum topic)! This site is excellent for enrichment. Include it on your class web page for students to access both in and out of class.

This "Read-alouds PLUS" article will show you how you can infuse social studies content, specifically the Revolutionary Period, using the power of daily read-alouds. Practice Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts while helping your students understand our history and heritage. If you fear that social studies has taken a back seat to tested content, be sure to share this collection with your students. The article includes book suggestions as well as discussion questions and writing activities connected to CCSS Standards. Don't miss our other articles on implementing Common Core in elementary. Some of the book selections may not be ones that your students can read on their own, but they will work well as read-alouds in your social students curriculum.

In the Classroom

Mark this article in your Favorites and take the book suggestions with you to the school library (or search for interlibrary loans). Consider using this as part of a "Then and Now" or "Past and Present" focus in kindergarten or first grade, or with middle elementary students as part of a unit related to the Revolutionary War. Take a look at the suggestions for connecting the read-alouds to CCSS-aligned writing prompts or for short, focused research projects to include as follow-up.

Totally History offers a brief overview on many historical events and topics. Choose from categories including art history, U.S. history, world history, famous history, and the history of technology. Within each topic, find facts and a several paragraph overview of the content.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Totally History offers a starting point to find basic facts and information on many topics. Use material from the site to introduce any topic such as presidents or events in World or American History. Share with students to use as a resource for classroom projects and reports. Have students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Capzles, reviewed here. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a president or any person or event in history.

Create your own GeoGuessr game using five Google Map street view locations. NO membership is required! These challenges show actual views of mystery locations for people to guess where they are. (See this review of GeoGuessr to see how the challenges work.) Move the person to the desired map location to set a location for each round. When complete, GeoSettr generates a URL that will take people to your unique GeoGuessr page.

In the Classroom

Make geography come to life by gamifying it! Create (or have students create) landform games (what do these locations have in common), culture games, travel collections, etc. Use this tool to explore world cultures (or languages), geography, historical locations, famous battle locations, and more. Demonstrate how to create a game, then have students create and play games of their own. Pair this activity with What Was There, reviewed here, and have students use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast changes over time.

NCES Kids' Zone offers enrichment and informational data. Explore This Day in History, updated daily. Take a poll and compare your own answers with others. Try your problem solving skills with the mindbender. Learn (and use) the word of the day. The Dare to Compare button leads to short quizzes where you can compare your knowledge with others. You can also explore data about your local schools and libraries and even find college information. Note that the upper menus do not work in all browsers, so not all areas of the site are readily accessible.

In the Classroom

Strike an interest in your school and community by finding out where you rank. Investigate college choices. After short quizzes, have a daily comparison of your students to see how they compare in civics, economics, geography, history, mathematics, and science at multiple grade levels. Inspire students to collect data and make their own graphs about school wide topics. Have students create an online graph using Amblegraph (reviewed here). Dig into probability problems to discover the odds.

Find lessons and materials to jump into Common Core. Whether you are already a Common Core whiz or just a beginner, this site will help you grow and learn. Search the site by selecting subject area, grade level(s), and your role/position. Begin your professional development with instructional modules. Modules include a facilitators guide, a video, and hands on activity with discussion ideas. Content includes both ELA and Math. Some lessons can be found (in ELA) that also incorporate science and social studies. Search by individual grade level or by elementary, middle school, or high school. Under ELA/Literacy, examine text dependent questions and text complexity. You will also find instructional videos, sample lesson and assessment questions, instructional practices, and aligning materials. Math activities include videos, examining the shifts, and evaluating yourself. Another area to explore is the Leadership Tools.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for professional development. Find the self evaluation tools to use before your evaluation by administrators. Start a Common Core study group, and explore and share together. Ready made parent materials make parent involvement easy. Learn ways to become involved with the Common Core movement. And of course, don't miss the fabulous "ready to go" lessons!

This "Read-alouds PLUS" article will show you how you can leverage the power of daily read-alouds in your elementary classroom to practice some Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts while infusing some social studies content, specifically the early colonial period. If you fear that social studies has taken a back seat to tested content or that students may be losing a sense of our history and heritage, this is a way to fortify your students' knowledge of early American history and heritage together with their skills in reading and writing. The article includes book suggestions as well as discussion questions and writing activities connected to CCSS Standards. Don't miss our other articles on implementing Common Core in elementary. The book suggestions are not necessarily ones your students would read on their own, but nestle in well as read-alouds in social studies curriculum across elementary grades.

In the Classroom

Mark this article in your Favorites and take the book suggestions with you to the library (or search for interlibrary loans) to help "fit" social studies into your read-alouds, making every minute count! Consider using them as part of a "Then and Now" or "Past and Present" focus in kindergarten or first grade, or with middle elementary students as part of a unit related to early settlements or the thirteen colonies. Be sure to look at the suggestions for connecting the read-alouds to CCSS-aligned writing prompts or for short, focused research projects to include as follow-up.

This interactive social bookmarking and collaboration tool does so much more than any ordinary bookmarking tool. It is a research tool, knowledge-sharing community, website annotation tool, and social information network all rolled into one "cloud" package. To get started, check out the About link. You will find information and videos on the uses of Diigo. Set up an account, being sure to click the FREE education edition upgrade. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.

This tool can be used as a basic bookmarking tool, simply allowing YOU to save, sort, and access your own bookmarks from ANY computer or mobile device (once you are logged in). You have the choice whether your bookmarks are public or private. You can gradually ease into more advanced and interactive features: highlight parts of sites and save or share those annotations, add sticky notes to parts of websites, pictures, screen-shots, documents, audio, and more. Do group collaborative research. Organize your bookmarks by tags. Unlike sorting bookmarks into file folders, adding tags permits you to put multiple tags or "labels" on one site. The same site you tag for book reports could also be tagged for biographies, for example. Aditional Diigo features include groups (a way to share and exchange bookmarks with a certain group of Diigo users), messaging, and search features. You can search all the public bookmarks made by others and discover other people with similar interests, already bookmarked and ready for you to mark as your own. There are many groups you can join, such as those with a specific teaching interest or hobby. See "Tools" for many helpful options, including bookmarklets to make bookmarking instant on multiple devices. Bookmarklets drag directly to the toolbars on your computer and are well worth it. It goes beyond simple bookmarking and adds options like highlight, capture, send, read later, comment, search bar and Diigo message options. You decide your own level of use and desired tools to be shown on the bar. If choosing not to install the toolbar, then there is an applet called Diigolet that will be used in its place. It is not as strong a tool as the toolbar, but will work well if the toolbar installation is not possible. Check our sample group. You can also install a widget on your blog (or class web page) that will show your bookmarks there.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Teachers even in very early grades can use Diigo simply to share links with students and parents. To get more ideas on the potential education uses of this site, see this SlideShare powerpoint here. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.

Assign students a research topic and allow them to use Diigo collaboratively to collect and share resources. Share teacher-selected options (complete with comments or directions) easily using Diigo. The research and conversations created through highlighting and annotating what they read can greatly enhance both their research skills and their online interaction on academic level skills. Or use Diigo to post discussion assignments on specific articles or even parts of articles using the highlighting tool. Find a relevant article for your subject, highlight the part that you want students to read. (If students are younger, keep it short to reduce the intimidating reality of too much information for kids.) Attach a sticky note with a discussion question for the students. Have them comment on the link in a "class discussion" as a homework assignment. If you are fortunate enough to have all students with computer access in your class and at home, such as in one to one laptop program schools, you can organize many assignments using Diigo. Use this site to help all of your students stay organized. Share this resource with your (not so organized) gifted students to help them manage projects and not "lose" the information they "found somewhere." Post assignments, readings, online interactive labs, and more. The site even allows students to submit responses by adding a comment. Of course others will see what they said, so you may not want the comments to be the only thing they do! If you assign gifted students to do projects beyond the regular curriculum, consider having them curate and annotate a collection of resources on a higher level topic. For example, extend your study of World War II by having them collect web-based primary sources showing the propaganda leading up to the war, political cartoons during the war, and advertisements from the time. Have them annotate the collection explaining each artifact and how it reflects the sentiments and biases of certain groups. That same collection could provide other students a class opportunity to interact with "objects" from the time. If you have contact with other teachers of gifted students, they could collaborate across different schools or classrooms.

Teach Dear America offers a large array of resources to learn and understand about life and times in Colonial America. Begin with a short overview of the time period including a timeline and information about the home and school life of Colonial children. Explore the large collection of downloadables including maps, timelines, sheet music, artist prints, and more. Choose from a large selection of student activities such as quizzes, arts and crafts, and recipes. The Books and Authors links include suggestions for reading material to include with any Colonial America unit.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site and combine it with TeachersFirst's CurriConnects leveled reading list forColonial America and the Revolution and Frontier Forts on the American Revolution for multiple offerings and angles on the Colonial and Revolutionary time period. Create a link to various activities, quizzes, and downloadables for students to explore on classroom computers. Include crafts and recipes from the site during your unit. Have students create an annotated image about Colonial times including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here to demonstrate concepts learned when making crafts or recipes. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare Colonial life to present day. Have students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Capzles (reviewed here). Have students use Fakebook (reviewed here) to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a student their age living in Colonial America.